Grinding Out Heavy Sets (Athlete Journal 91)

For quite some time now, I’ve felt the need to push myself more in terms of grinding out repeated heavy doubles and triples in my training. My typical pattern is to work up to one heavy set of one to three reps, perhaps followed by a significantly lighter back-off set.

Lately however, I’m working hard to hammer out at least three top-end heavy sets. This type of loading improves confidence and special work capacity. If you can do three sets of three, for example, it’s much more meaningful than if you only perform one set at that weight. In other words, if you can do it over and over, it wasn’t a fluke. Another related tactic I’m using is performing a heavy single after a heavy, fatiguing double. Put simply, I’m focusing on work, rather than saving myself on my warm ups so that I can display my strength at the top set.

I was very satisfied with this week’s sessions, having hit some nice numbers on the squat, and particularly the bench press. My shoulder continues to improve, as well. So overall, nothing terribly dramatic this week, but simply another good week of training.